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Playing Diplomacy: a guide for new players

Welcome to the beta! This guide covers everything you need to start playing. Most of it happens in Telegram, with the bot @IronChancellorBot. There is also a website, https://diplomacy.xn--jalluthti-02a.fi, which is optional.

1. Diplomacy in one minute

Seven great powers of 1901 Europe (England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, Turkey) compete to control 18 of the 34 supply centres. Each turn, every player secretly writes orders for all their armies and fleets. Then all orders are revealed and resolved at the same time. There is no dice and no luck. The only way to get ahead is to make deals with other players, and to decide which deals to keep.

The official rulebook: docs/reference/rules.pdf. You don't need to know the rules by heart: the bot only ever offers you legal orders.

2. Get started (1 minute)

  1. Open @IronChancellorBot in Telegram and press Start. That's it: you're registered, and three keys appear under the chat:
  2. 🎮 My games: your games. Open one to do anything in it.
  3. 🎲 Find a game: games you can join, the queue for a new game, and a solo demo.
  4. ℹ️ Help: every command.
  5. Want to try it alone first? 🎲 Find a game → 🎮 Solo demo. You play Germany against six computer-played powers, and each turn runs as soon as your orders are in.

3. Playing with your Telegram group

This is how most beta games work. It needs one person, the organiser, to set it up.

Organiser: 1. Add @IronChancellorBot to your Telegram group (group menu → Add members). 2. In the group, send /newgame. 3. The bot posts "Game N for this group" with a 🎮 Join this game button.

Everyone (including the organiser): 4. Tap 🎮 Join this game. It opens your private chat with the bot, where you pick a power. 5. The game begins when all seven powers are taken. - With fewer than seven players, the organiser can leave empty powers to civil disorder: in their private chat, /dummy N TURKEY (for example). Those powers' units just hold.

What happens where:

In the group (everyone sees) In your private chat with the bot (only you)
"Game N is full: the game has begun!" Your orders
Turn results and the new map Your private messages to other powers
Deadline reminders The game menu, your status, "wait for me"
Broadcasts ("to everyone") from players Notifications with an Enter orders button

The group's games are only visible to the group's members. Nobody else can find or join them. If you type an order command in the group by mistake, the bot won't take it: it points you to your private chat, because everyone in the group would see it.

4. A turn, step by step

  1. You get a message: "The turn has been processed for game N. Your next orders are due." It comes with 📝 Enter orders. The group gets the map and a 📝 Send my orders link that opens your private chat.
  2. Tap 📝 Enter orders. The bot goes through your units one at a time and shows only the orders that unit can legally give:
  3. Hold, move to a neighbouring province;
  4. 🤝 Support options: help another unit hold, or help its move;
  5. 🚢 Convoy options (fleets): carry an army across the sea.

⬅️ Back and ⏭ Skip are on every step. At the end you see all your orders together. Tap ✅ Submit. 3. Changed your mind? Enter orders again: a new order for a unit replaces its old one. 📋 My orders in the game menu shows what you've sent, and can clear it. 4. The turn runs as soon as every player has sent orders for all their units, or at the deadline if the group set one. Until then nothing is final. - Still negotiating? In the game menu, tap ✋ Wait for me before processing. The turn then waits for you, though a deadline still applies. Tap ✅ I'm ready when you're done. 5. After movement there may be a short retreat phase (a dislodged unit must move or disband), and after autumn a build phase (gain or lose units to match your supply centres). The bot asks for exactly what's needed; most players have nothing to do.

Prefer typing? /orders A PAR - BUR; F BRE - MAO; A MAR S A PAR - BUR. Examples are under /examples.

5. Talking: the actual game

  • Private messages: game menu → 💬 Messages → tap a power, then just type your message. Only that player sees it.
  • To everyone: 💬 Messages → 📣 Everyone. It's also posted in the group.
  • Or by command: /message FRANCE Shall we split the Low Countries?, /broadcast Peace in our time.

Deals are not binding, and neither are promises. That's the game.

6. Deadlines, draws, and leaving

  • Deadline: game menu → ⏰ Deadline. Propose 12 h, 24 h or 48 h. It applies when a majority of players agree (✅/❌ Vote buttons). Ten minutes before a deadline, everyone gets a reminder. Units without orders hold.
  • Draw: /draw votes to end the game as a shared draw. It ends when every surviving power agrees. /nodraw takes your vote back.
  • Leaving: /quit N. Your power becomes free for someone else to take over.

7. The website (optional)

At https://diplomacy.xn--jalluthti-02a.fi you can see your games with a large, zoomable map, results of the last turn, messages, and order entry.

  1. Register with your email and a password.
  2. Link Telegram (top menu): the site shows a code; send /link <code> to the bot. Your web account and your Telegram player are now the same, and your games appear on both.
  3. Forgot your password? Login → Forgot password? The reset link comes as a Telegram message from the bot, if your account is linked (otherwise by email).

Group games can't be joined from the website. Join them through the group's button.

8. Good to know

  • You can't break anything. The bot only offers legal orders, and a typed order that isn't legal is rejected with the reason.
  • Several games? Your commands act on your current game: the one you last opened or were notified about. Switch with 🎮 My games or /game N.
  • The server restarting (after an update, usually a minute) doesn't lose anything: orders and messages you send meanwhile are queued and delivered, and the bot tells you. /queue shows what's waiting.
  • Your data: your Telegram name and ID, your orders and messages, and, if you use the website, your email address and a hashed password.

9. Beta: something odd?

Tell the organiser or the maintainer what you did, what you expected and what happened, ideally with a screenshot and the game number. This is free software (GNU AGPL v3 or later); the source is at https://github.com/tenderi/diplomacy.

Quick reference: all bot commands · the rules